About four years ago i promised my two boys that we would see snow and every year it's been a struggle.  This year was no different, we left Florida and stopped in Nashville, TN to see my sister and hopefully our first snow.  It was 7 degrees and was definitely good to put the boys in the Christmas spirit but no snow.  We saw Trans Siberian Orchestra... Matthew really enjoyed it despite it's high volume and duration.  Nathan on the other hand managed to sleep through the whole thing.  I guess I should have scheduled an earlier showing. 

Anyway we heard that it was going to dump a ton of snow where my parents lived, Connersville, Indiana so we took off that way with high hopes of seeing snow and most likely a white Christmas.  It didn't happen, the snow stopped just north of Connersville.  In fact it was expected to have record warm temps.  After Christmas, which was wonderful since we were able to spend it with our family, we decided to head to Crystal Mountain in Northern Michigan after they promised they would have snow.  The night we arrived the temp had risen to record highs and the next day was 50 degrees which melted all the snow except the base on the mountains.  We've been here three days and NO snow and none is expected tomorrow but the boys were able to ski on the green and blue slopes and they have snow boarding lessons tomorrow.  We also rented snow mobiles on Wednesday and they are expecting an inch or two of snow so maybe we will see it after all, we'll see.  The have hundreds of miles of snow trails, hopefully there's enough snow to enjoy the day.

 It's almost over and we have a very long drive home but we've have a really good time and built lots of memories with my boys and my family that I will cherish forever.

 I'll upload a photo shortly.

 I can't wait until next year,

Shane

Just for this morning, I am going to smile when I see your face and laugh when I feel like crying.

Just for this morning, I will let you wake up softly, all rumpled in your sheets and I will hold you until you are ready for the day.

Just for this morning, I will let you choose what you want to wear, and smile and say how perfect it is.

Just for this morning, I am going to step over the laundry, and pick you up and take you to the park to play.

Just for this morning, I will leave the dishes in the sink, and let you teach me how to put that puzzle of yours together.

Just for this afternoon, I will unplug the telephone and keep the computer off,  and sit with you in the back yard and blow bubbles.

Just for this afternoon, I will not yell once, not even a tiny grumble when you scream and whine for the ice cream truck, and I will buy you one if he comes by.

Just for this afternoon, I won't worry about what you are going to be when you grow up, or second guess every decision I have made where you are concerned.

Just for this afternoon, I will let you help me bake cookies, and I won't stand over you trying to fix them.

Just for this afternoon, I will take you to McDonald's and buy us both a Happy Meal so you can have both toys.

Just for this evening, I will hold you in my arms and tell you a story about how you were born, and how much I love you.

Just for this evening, I will let you splash in the tub and not get angry.

Just for this evening, I will let you stay up late while we sit on the porch and count all the stars.

Just for this evening, I will snuggle beside you for hours, and miss my favorite TV show.

Just for this evening, when I run my fingers through your hair as you pray, I will simply be grateful that God has given me the greatest gift ever given.  I will think about the mothers who are searching for their missing children, the mothers who are visiting their children's graves instead of their bedrooms, and mothers who are in hospital rooms watching their children suffer senselessly, and screaming inside that they can't handle it anymore, and when I kiss you goodnight I will hold you a little tighter, a little longer. It is then that I will thank God for you, and ask him for nothing, except one more day.

Dedicated to Matthew Shane Hamilton
Author: UNKNOWN

Matthew,

I just thought I would put some of my thoughts on the internet.  It's 1:00am in the morning and I can't sleep.  I can only think of you.  I ponder for hours at night and I thought I would let you into my heart.  I only hope that this rambling will be around when you can truly read and understand the love I feel for you.  

I love every look, every sound you make and fear that your going to grow up to fast.  I daydream about games we'll play when you get older.  I look forward to your first steps, your first birthday, your first day of school, your prom, your last day of school and your marriage.  Yet, I wish that they would never come, knowing that the want is something that goes away as these milestones pass never to be relived.  I hope that you will someday know the love I feel for you.  

The last several years before you were born were difficult for me.  I have always enjoyed life more than most.  I would wake up every morning with a smile on my face.  I would think, what a wonderful time to be alive.  But, I lost interest in the world, boredom, questioning my existance.  There is a famous quote coined by Tom Cruse that explains the way I felt on Sept. 30, 1999 (your birthday).  'YOU COMPLETE ME!'  I again look forward to each day, happier than I have ever been in my life.

If God were to grant any wish that I had it would be to keep you safe from harm throughout your life.  I tear at the very thought that something bad could happen to you. 

I love you

Your Father

I only have a few minutes but I went on my fourth run using my new acquired Garmin Heart Rate Monitor for the Garmin Forerunner 405.  Unfortunately my fears were realized and after my .6 mile run I had a heart rate of 191 bpm.  I'm going to have to revisit my training plan.  I'm going to double the length of the run but reduce my speed and take breaks as necessary so my heart doesn't explode. 

 I also purchased a pair of ASIC Nimbus 10 shoes and found that they are far superior to the Nikes I had been wearing.  I'll start uploading some photos and I have other things I want to add to my blog in the very near future so stay tuned.

I occasionally search the Internet for friends to see what their up to in life and two days ago I ran into Jonathan Kalmes website http://smthing.info.  Jonathan is a friend I met through my ex-brother-in-law in  Orlando decades ago and we had quite a lot in common so we would hang out on occasion, especially after we both ended up in D.C.  (I now live in St. Petersburg, he's still in D.C.).  Anyway, the reason I decided to finally start my blog is I have started smthing :-D that I swore I would never do... let me explain.

 I was reading through Jonathan's blogs and realized he had started running.  This is odd because I was pretty sure that Jonathan and I had similar distain for abusing our bodies in that way, there are other ways to abuse our bodies and they were much more enjoyable.  As I read the blogs he mentioned his need for instant gratification and that we was a tech geek... did I mention how much alike we were?  Well he had found a device by Garmin called the Forerunner 305 and that it gave him tons of data that we was able to analyze immediately following his runs so I hoped in the car and drove to Best Buy and got one.  Well, actually I got the Garmin 405.  I think it's basically the same thing, just more watch like. 

 It took me a while to get out of Best Buy, always seems to happen when I go to Circuit City, CompUSA or Best Buy, I ended up with several more items than my intended Forerunner... Canon 50D, two IS lenses, 580 flash, etc. but that'll have to wait until another post.  I got home and played with my kids secretly excited for them to go to bed so I could play with my new toy.  Once they were down for the night I 'tried' to configure the ANT, which is a usb wireless tranceiver for the Forerunner.  Unfortunately it took 15 minutes or so to get Vista 64 to connect to the Forerunner, ultimately I had to set the shortcut to 'xp service pack 2' compatibility to get it to work.

 At 9:30pm or so I took off for my first run since high school I believe.  I ran .64 miles in just under 5 minutes.  It was my first time but I'm hooked.  Today is day two and I just ran the same 'course' and cut 19 seconds off my time from yesterday.  I'm still learning how to analyze all the data but I'm going to continue running and as I see progress I'll post some of the data to my blog.

 BTW, it wasn't all Jonathan's doing, on Turkey Day my son Nathan aged 7 begged me to run the Pinellas Turkey Trot 5k with him.  Both my boys are big into sports and Nathan loves to run and I knew I couldn't do it.  He did end up going with my wife (she's more capable than me :-D).  He was clearly disappointed that I did run with him and Vera had to walk part of the way and he wanted to run.  I promised him that I would work hard to get in shape so I could run a 5k with him.  Apparently they have another one coming up for Christmas here locally, I doubt I'll be able to make it by then but I'm going to give it a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.

 Shane